Pi
by newspapercabs
Summary: "The thing about the world, is that it doesn't have any extra pieces." Caleb's perspective through "2 pi R" and his thoughts about his new substitute teacher, Mr. Swift. No Pairing.


_Disclaimer: I don't own anything.  
_

__Summary: "The thing about the world, is that it doesn't have any extra pieces."

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_Pi**  
**_

To be perfectly honest, Caleb didn't spare the substitute teacher any thought whatsoever, his mind more preoccupied with planning out the rest of his short life, insuring his mother would be properly taken care of after he was gone, so this Mr. Swift didn't even register, he already classifying him as a push-over. Short, with glasses and a severe limp, hardly an intimidating authority figure that could bring a class such as his to heel.

He was soon proven that first impressions hardly gave out accurate information. He even managed to rob Angela of a sarcastic comeback as he described the numbers, the meaning _pi_ with such unusual coherency and if Caleb were prone to romanticizing his thoughts he would have even labeled the description poetic.

But he wasn't, so he didn't.

**.**

It wasn't until he was down in the subway station, counting down the last minutes of his life. The life his brother was robbed of, waiting for that train that would take him away from this world, from his mother who drowned her pain everyday in alcohol and somewhere, deep inside he knew this wouldn't make anything better, but even with his great intellect he could see no other way to absolve himself of his guilt, his unpunished crime of killing his older brother. He glanced at his watch, feeling his heart twist, cold and uncomfortable, a heavy weight in his chest; only five minutes left.

Then Mr. Swift appeared, but there was no pity, no sympathy softening his eyes. There was only understanding, a shared pain that had hardened his eyes and had calloused his heart, but had not deadened it.

They shared the heavy, crushing weight of their mistakes, of their _recklessness._

_"Take it from someone who thought that leaving would make it easier on everyone and then learned otherwise."_

Caleb, shaking and his throat tight let the train pass with a rushing roar, the pain in his chest easing with every shuddered breath. He didn't even flinch when he felt Mr. Swift's fingers brush across his shoulder like a shy bird, only lingering long enough to offer him the strength and the support to bring himself to his feet and find his way home.

All the way home, somehow he knew Mr. Swift was nearby and for some reason that he refused to analyze deeper, the knowledge lent him more comfort than paranoia. That night, for the first time in a long time he slept without his heart light and his mind finally at peace.

**.**

Caleb felt a sense of loss when he learned that their teacher would be returning from her conference tomorrow that this would be the last time that he would get to see Mr. Swift and some questioning, paranoid part of his mind wondered if the timing of this was just a little _too_ perfect, that maybe Mr. Swift had only come here to _save _him. He quickly scoffed at such a ridicules notion, it was an absurd idea that only belonged in some B-rated movie. That stuff didn't happen in real life, it just _didn't_.

But for the first time in a long time, he actually paid attention to the lesson; he always knew numbers carried power, that he could use them to create and destroy whatever he saw fit, but Mr. Swift opened him up to another side of the numbers, to _pi_. They contained everything and if one knew what to look for, they could have the world at their fingertips.

_"The thing about the world, is that it doesn't have any extra pieces. Its like pi, it contains everything; you take out a single piece, no circle."_

**.**

"You really should be more careful with your code," the dry voice of Mr. Swift made him look up, tucking the wrinkled piece of paper back into his notebook.

That tie looked ridicules and out of place in contrast to his three-piece suit, but Caleb managed to dampen his smirk had swallow the laughter itching in his chest. How had not noticed it in class?

He looked down, suddenly unsure what to say. How does one go about thanking the person who literally saved his life and stopped him from committing another mistake?

"Thanks," he finally said. He mentally kicked himself; that was pathetic.

Mr. Swift nodded, a look of indecision falling over his face before it was gone again with barely enough time for Caleb to register the expression.

"I grew up during the Cold War," Mr. Swift told him, "when computer networks were just a gleam in the eye of the Department of Defense. Things seemed more black and white then; arpanet was the new frontier, until a kid with a homemade computer turned the whole thing inside out," _that_ gave Caleb pause and he looked at Mr. Swift, as if staring at him like a lunatic would encourage him to spill out the full truth, instead of these vague bites of of a hidden puzzle. Like a complex, self-learning code and he was missing the most important pieces. Mr. Swift gave him a knowing look, "All I'm saying is: its a new era now and things are about to get really weird. So you should keep your code close," pulling out a sheet of paper, he handed it to him with a solemn look, "and choose your friends wisely."

Caleb looked down, immediately recognizing the sequence of numbers printed on the page, "Pi."

"The first 3,000 digits. My number's in there," A challenge, but also an invitation, "somewhere. Your smart, you'll figure it out."

Caleb could only watch in numb silence as the man turned away, his mind going a million miles an hour as it tried to process all of what Mr. Swift had said and more importantly what he _hadn't_ said.

"Wait, uh, the hacker; the one that got away," Caleb called out to him, feeling something in his gut twist at the knowing look and the faintest shadow of a smirk on his lips, "How did you know he did that with a homemade computer? I've read all that research. No one's ever mentioned that."

Mr. Swift paused before shrugging his shoulders, "I must have heard it somewhere."

As he watched the man walk away, disappearing into the crowd, he could only think, _liar_. Caleb felt a smirk pull at his lips as he lost sight of him. He looked down at the paper again; ten digits within 3,000.

He smiled. He's smart, he'll figure it out and they would meet again, someday.

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_Review._


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